Three holy books (Koran, Old Testament and New Testament) on the altar of the Lodge ‘Lumiere No. 42’, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2016. In Israel, lodges practise with three holy books. The candidate can decide on which of the three holy books he wants to take his Masonic Obligation.

Member of ‘Emirat Shriners Europe’ and ‘Zu den Romeriken Bergen’ Lodge, Remscheid, Germany, 2016. The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, or Shriners for short, is an appendant body of Freemasonry. They describe themselves as a fraternity based on fun and have a charitable purpose.

The Chamber of Reflection at ‘Friedrich zur Vaterlandsliebe’ Lodge, Koblenz, Germany, 2016. The Chamber of Reflection can look very different depending on the location and jurisdiction. It is a dark room where candidates can reflect before their initiation into Freemasonry.

In my work „Man among Men“ I look for a new view on the closed community of the Freemasons.

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that traces its origins in the loose organisation of late medieval Stonemasonry. Regularly for men only, Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million people. In the 21st century, they became less a “secret society” and more of a "society with secrets". The basic ideals of Freemasonry are liberty, equality, fraternity, tolerance and humanity. It is most important for a Freemason to work on himself to become a better man.

My work shows that the Freemasons still exist and what values ​​they are representing. At the same time I want to clear up out-dated prejudices. Because I believe they are misrepresented in the media, I want to create a new, more sophisticated image of the Freemasons.

My photographs show a complex, humorous, sometimes even contradicting image. The viewer is invited to form his own image of the “brothers”, who might not be so different from you and me.

Since Freemasonry is a phenomenon that exists in many countries, this global dimension is also an important part of the work. Do (cultural) differences between Freemason societies in various countries exist? What is typical for each country and what do all Freemasons have in common? The images shown are photographed during the last five years in Germany, the Netherlands, England, Brazil and Israel.